For my birthday this year we rented a little cottage on the South end of San Juan Island, just a few minutes outside of the town of Friday Harbor. The cottage was full of books and art and looked out over the sea. Each night the sky would turn a mix of blue and hot pink and all we could hear was the sound of the ocean wind in the trees.

We explored the island a little each day, driving up and down and around the island for a few hours, snapping some pics, and then heading home. We’d curl up by the fire, listen to podcasts, eat too much cheese and drink too much wine. We dusted off some of the cottage’s well loved VHS tapes and got reacquainted with the sound of a video rewinding.

The bed was fluffy, the bathroom floor was heated, and the coffee somehow tasted better and better each day. Maybe it was the silence or the extra few bites of Hershey bar, but I felt like I sunk a little deeper and deeper into the couch each day and a little more like I belonged on vacation forever. Vacation swoon.